The smell thing is totally the give away. On one season of Top Chef Masters they did a challenge where they had to taste while wearing a blind fold, nose plug and earmuffs to isolate the taste. To your point, they did not do very well with just taste. Then they isolated other senses. The hearing one was fun,…

The one who cooked the tartare tataki style was Sylva. Jamie wasn't in that because he won immunity.

I forgot my best part— the growl thing that he does at the end before going inside!

I believe you're thinking of the time on All Stars where he was half yelling, half rapping, while grabbing his crotch. Tre looked partly bemused and partly like he wanted to push Marcel off the roof.

Fair enough. Personal villain for me for her lack of range (soup or scallops or bust) and her kind of ambivalence toward everything. She's also near the bottom of that list, too. Annoying more than anything. She wouldn't even register on LA or Texas.

My view on Marcel has ebbed and flowed over several watchings of season 2. I think I've come out with the opinion that people like Ilan, Frank, and the others are definitely assholes, but Marcel is one of the least self-aware people around. I think he has some inherently dislikeable qualities—foams, rapping?, staring…

I may be alone, but I love that they started tableside reviews. I think it takes away a lot of the "produced" (i.e. Not real) elements of the show. It seemed in many cases that judges would act very neutral when eating a dish and then all of a sudden at judge's table it was the best or worst dish they've ever tasted.

Victor? Victor?!